Grover
Grover is a friendly monster character from Sesame Street. His first appearance was on The Ed Sullivan Show as a dark green puppet. This version of Grover also appeared in season 1 of Sesame Street, and soon turned into the fuzzy blue character that we know today. He has many jobs on Sesame Street: assisting Kermit the Frog and others with demonstrations, working as a waiter at Charlie's Restaurant, taxi driver, picture frame maker, and various others. Grover also frequently transformed into his alter ego, Super Grover, who would fly around "solving" everyday problems. When Frank Oz is unavailable, Eric Jacobson performs Grover for various scenes and skits. Grover also hosts a skit in the later seasons of Sesame Street entitled Global Grover, in which he shows videos of his adventures around the world. Origins The character who would eventually become Groverwas first seen on "The Ed Sulivan Show" in a Christmas Eve appearance in 1967. He appeared as Gleep, a monster in Santa's workshop. He later made a cameo appearance in The Muppets On Puppets in 1968 with the Rock and Roll Monster. In 1969, clad in a necktie, he appeared in the Sesame Street Pitch Reel in the board room sequences. During the first season of Sesame Street, this darker pre-cursor to Grover made several appearances (like many of the puppets used on Ed Sullivan), and by the end of the season he was re-named Grover. By Season 2, his fur became blue, and his voice and personality began to change to those we know today. The green-furred puppet would be used again as Grover's mother in a sketch in which Grover is afraid of the dark, and has trouble sleeping. Photo gallery Image:Grover_Drums.jpg|Grover, as Global Grover Image:Grover_Kent.jpg|Grover as one of his alter egos, Grover Kent Image:Super_Grover.jpg|Grover as Super Grover Trivia *When Grover first appeared on "The Ed Sulivan Show", he was dark green. Notes *Grover made a special appearance in episode 518 of "The Muppet Show" along with several other residents of "Sesame Street". *In recent years, a newer, brighter Grover puppet has been used. The puppet was re-built in 2004, around the time Eric Jacobson's performances of the character were increasing. *Filmmaker John Landis performed Grover in the finale of The Muppet Movie. *According to a Noggin "Nogginoid", Grover is written to represent the psychological age of a 4-year-old. *Occasions in which Frank Oz returned to perform Grover after Eric Jacobson took over include, **a Waiter Grover sketch in a Russian restaurant **Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition **''Elmo's Potty Time'' **a sketch in which Marshall Grover rides backwards into the sunset **SpiderMonster: The Musical *According to the book "Sesame Street Unpaved", Grover's favorite songs are "Monster in the Mirror" and "I Will Survive". However, in the special "What's the Name of That Song?", he says that his favorite song is "What's the Name of That Song?" *When Jim Henson painted his infamous dressing room pipes on The Jack Paar Program, he used a piece of the original green Grover's fur as "hair" for one of the faces on the pipes. *Grover has said that bunny rabbits "have it out for me", at least when he takes on his super hero alterego. *Sesame Street producer Kevin Clash's favorite character is Grover, the same as during his childhood. See also *Grover's Mommy *Grover Sketches *Grover Filmography *Grover Through the Years *Grover Books *International Grover *Sesame Street Monsters External Links *Sesame Workshop *PBS Sesame Street Category:Muppet Characters Category:Puppet Characters Category:Sesame Street Characters Category:Sesame Street Monsters Category:Grover Category:Frank Oz Category:Eric Jacobson